Missing persons project: A global response - ICRC Shop
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Missing persons project: A global response
Cover photo: Nadia Shira Cohen/ICRC
A global issue The number of people going missing worldwide because of armed conflicts, other situations of violence, catastrophic events and migration continues to grow every day. It is a global problem with devastating and long-lasting conse- quences for families and entire communities. In some countries, new disappearances add to a legacy of missing persons cases from previous conflicts. In others, the issue overlaps with migration, taking on a transnational dimen- sion, as thousands of people fleeing conflict or destitution go missing en route or even when they reach their desti- nation. While countries like Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria ac- count for a majority of the more recent cases, the Inter- national Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continues to work in Sri Lanka, the Balkans, Lebanon, Latin America and the Caucasus – to name but a few places – decades after people went missing there. In 2019 the ICRC registered 24,860 new missing persons cases. While this number is high, it likely represents only a fraction of all the people believed to be missing worldwide, as reliable statistics on missing persons are notoriously difficult to produce.
Photos of a missing person’s
family shown during an interview
in Lugansk / Luhansk, Ukraine.
Pieter-Jan de Pue/ICRC
A multidisciplinary
response led by the
Central Tracing Agency
Tracing missing people and putting them back in contact
with their loved ones have been at the heart of what the
ICRC does for the past 150 years.
At the centre of this work is the Central Tracing Agency,
one of the ICRC’s oldest institutions and enshrined in the
Geneva Conventions.
The agency carries out a broad range of activities to:
i. prevent disappearances (e.g. registering vulnerable
groups, including people deprived of their liberty;
promoting the creation of National Information
Bureaux, Grave Registration Services and the use
of identification tags among armed forces; providing
training in the proper management of human remains)
ii. clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons
(e.g. through tracing activities and restoring family
links activities; supporting and chairing national and
coordination mechanisms for missing persons;
managing information and processing files; protecting
personal data and information on grave sites)
iii. respond to the multifaceted needs of families of
missing persons (e.g. providing psychological and
psychosocial, legal, administrative and economic
support to families of missing persons and their
communities).
Today tracing missing persons, supporting their families
and putting them back in contact are carried out by the
ICRC in over 70 countries in close cooperation with National
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Our unique, worldwide network passed on and facilitated
nearly two million written and oral Red Cross messages
and phone calls in 2018 and 2019. Through our tracing ac-
tivities almost 9,500 missing persons were located in 2019.
In the same year 981 family members were reunited, of
which more than 773 were children.
The ICRC responds to the many needs of families of missing
persons worldwide through accompaniment programmes,
which include economic, legal, administrative, and men-
tal-health and psychosocial-support activities. These pro-
grammes create local support networks that are led by “ac-
companiers”, individuals identified within communities or
families who “walk alongside families” to help them address
their needs.
To strengthen our operational activities, the agency deve-
lops innovative tools, conducts research and raises aware-
ness of and support for missing persons.
In 2019 diplomatic efforts to promote the response to mis-
sing persons and their families contributed to the adoption
of Resolution 2474 by the United Nations Security Council
and a resolution on restoring family links and data protec-
tion by the International Conference of the Red Cross and
Red Crescent.
Despite all these efforts, however, preventing disappearances,
finding people who have gone missing and supporting
their families are immensely challenging tasks that no
one organization can do alone.
International conference on strengthening
the work with relatives of missing persons in
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, July 2019.
The missing persons
project
In 2018 the ICRC launched the Missing Persons Project
as a four-year institutional initiative. Under the umbrella
of the Central Tracing Agency, the project aims to bring
together families and practitioners from around the
world to collectively improve the response to the vast
numbers of people going missing.
Building on existing standards, such as the body of guide-
lines and recommendations adopted by the 2003
international conference on missing persons, the project
seeks to identify best practices and, where necessary,
improve or create new, technical guidance on a broad
range of interconnected subjects.
For the first stage, the project team undertook a com-
prehensive review of existing literature and operational
guidelines used by practitioners worldwide.
This was followed by six international conferences and working-group meetings, which brought together almost five hundred stakeholders from all over the world. This included: representatives of families of missing persons, legal experts, forensic specialists, data protection experts, mental-health and psycholo- gical-support experts, representatives of international organizations such as the United Nations, the Inter- national Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), and the International Commission on Missing Persons, government representatives, and members of national bodies or international coordination mechanisms specific- ally tasked with the issue of missing persons. These meetings helped to identify areas where further guidance to support practitioners in their work was needed. These were: missing migrants, the search process, the multifaceted needs of families, the design and set-up of mechanisms for the search for missing persons, and the forensic aspects associated with the identification and return of remains. The project team also created an online platform to allow practitioners to discuss and exchange experiences and contribute to the development of guidance docu- ments. The Missing Persons Global Community today has hundreds of members from around the world and conti- nues to grow. It brings together local and international organizations, government institutions, expert bodies, associations of families of missing persons, researchers and ICRC specialists. As such, the Missing community provides unique opportunities to identify and elaborate good practices and harmonize the way we work.
A 27-year-old woman holds a photo
of her missing husband in Fallujah.
Noor for ICRC
A global and ongoing process Building on the recommendations of the 2019 conferences, the Missing Persons Project is in the process of developing guidance documents on a range of topics with the support of expert consultants. The consultation and approval process will take place in three phases. The first phase involves consultation with a selected number of experts from different fields. The second phase consists of broader and open consul- tation online via a public website and the project’s community of practice. In the third phase, through a series of face-to-face or online meetings, the recommendations and guidance tools will be presented to regional or local audiences, as close as possible to the reality in the field. This new consultation phase will focus particularly on state bodies and decision makers involved in the response to missing persons in their respective contexts. At the end of the project in 2022 the body of recommend- ations should be finalized and launched globally. A web- site will offer a library and provide easy access to existing standards, technical recommendations and guidelines for practitioners worldwide. Ways and methods to promote and disseminate recommendations and to train practi- tioners will have been initiated and will offer a continuing process to build the community of practice’s capacity. Future ambition Helping parties to an international armed conflict to prevent and address cases of family separation and disap- pearance is at the heart of the Central Tracing Agency’s work. With its deep history of innovating, adapting to the changing needs of affected populations and embracing technological change, the agency is embarking on a trans- formative programme to address the increasing numbers of people becoming separated or going missing around the world. To strengthen its advisory role, the agency aims to create a Centre for Knowledge, Development and Innovation, which
would build on the process and initiatives of the Missing
Persons Project and make this work permanent. This new
structure would create a space for exchange and dialogue,
broaden and strengthen the community of practice, provi-
de methods and tools to build stakeholders’ capacity, de-
velop and refine guidance and technical recommendations
in a more permanent manner, propose training modules
and communication products, and help actors worldwide
to be better equipped and more effective together.
Expert-Workshops & Conferences: Recommendations or Guidelines Development & Validation
review of challenges & (three validation rounds expert-meetings
identification of common needs. + online community + regions)
2018 / 2019 2020 2021 2022
Dignified Management of the Dead The Geneva & Coimbra
in Humanitarian Emergencies. principles.
Geneva, December 2018. Paris, France – May 2020.*
Migration Routes: Minimum
Data Set.
Tunis, Tunisia, February 2020.
Clarifying the Fate and
Whereabouts of Missing Migrants. Migration Routes: Families
La Antigua, Guatemala, May 2019. involvement.
Dakar, Senegal, March 2020.*
Migration Routes: Mechanisms.
Regional
Pretoria, South Africa, July 2020.*
Conferences
to present
Supporting and Strengthening the Supporting and Strengthening the and validate
Work with Relatives of the Missing. Work with Relatives of the Missing. recommendations
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, II International Conference. and principles
July 2019. Tbilisi, Georgia, June 2020** developed by the
Missing Persons
Global Community
The Search for Missing Persons,
Early Search
including victims of enforced
Manila, Philippines,
disappearance.
November 2020.*
Dead Sea, Jordan, September 2019.
Mechanisms for Missing Persons:
Mechanisms Final Launch and
clarifying fate and supporting
Kuwait City, Kuwait, Adoption of New
families.
October 2020.* Recommendations
Nicosia, Cyprus, October 2019.
and Guidelines.
Humanitarian Forensic Action: INTERNATIONAL
Preventing and Resolving the The Geneva & Coimbra principles. GLOBAL EVENT
Missing. Paris, France – May 2020.*
Coimbra, Portugal, November 2019.
Awareness Raising Mobilization & Diplomatic Events in New York & Geneva
* Event held online owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. / ** Event cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.The remains of missing
people are returned
to their loved ones
in Ayacucho, Peru.
José Atauje for ICRCAreas of work Missing Migrants The number of people reported missing along migration routes is staggering. Whether in Central America, the Mediterranean, Africa or Asia, migrants go missing in shipwrecks and accidents, are kidnapped or trafficked, or lose contact with their families because they are being held in places of detention. Against this backdrop, in May 2019 the Missing Persons Project partnered with the International Organization for Migration and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team to bring together a large number of actors to see how organizations could standardize their work on this issue. The meeting, which took place in La Antigua, Guatemala, in May 2019, identified three work streams, to improve effi- ciency and collaboration between different stakeholders in the search for missing migrants. Minimum data set Objective: Harmonize the type of data stakeholders collect on missing migrants along migration routes to facilitate exchange of information and clarify migrants’ fate and whereabouts. Stakeholders’ interaction with families of missing migrants Objective: Ensure an effective response to the challenges faced by families of missing migrants, particularly in terms of access to, and provision of, information. Information exchange along migration routes Objective: Improve and coordinate data-exchange mecha- nisms along migration routes.
La Paz, Honduras. Children and parents of
migrants that went missing on the journey
from Honduras to the United States paint
a mural in memory of the missing relatives.
ETER for ICRCSupporting and strengthening the work with relatives of missing persons Representatives of family associations who attended the workshops organized by the project team in 2019 (topics included migration, the search process, design and set-up of mechanisms for the search for missing persons, forensic aspects) voiced their desire to be liste- ned to, respected, and recognized as actors capable of actively contributing to the search for their loved ones and of co-designing the response to their own needs. In July 2019, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, we gathered together more than 80 participants repre- senting, or working with, families of missing persons worldwide. The event allowed for the first time to break through the compartmentalization that had kept fami- lies from multiple regions around the world from building broader solidarity and understanding despite their diffe- rent circumstances (i.e. conflicts, violence, migration, disasters). One of the recommendations that emerged from this workshop was the creation of “a specific space for families to meet on a regular basis, interact with one other and contribute to designing better responses”. The Central Tracing Agency has decided to convene annual international conferences on family needs that aim not only to create common spaces for families and experts but also to ensure that families are kept informed and involved in the agency’s work.
An ICRC staff member hugs
the wife of a missing person
in Nalbandyan, Armenia.
Gohar Hakobyan/ICRCLeros, Greece. An ICRC staff member
explains how the Trace the Face platform
works to a Somali woman.
Fragkiska Megaloudi/ICRC
The search process
The search for missing persons is a complex process that
involves different stakeholders, such as family represen-
tatives, civil society and humanitarian organizations, as
well as government bodies and the justice system. While
differences exist among these in terms of mandates,
methods and objectives, it is crucial that we foster under-
standing and coordination among them to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of searches. In September
2019, in partnership with swisspeace, the project team
organized an expert workshop on the search for missing
persons, including victims of enforced disappearance. A
broad range of topics was discussed, including the need
for immediate searches, and the relationship between
searches and criminal investigations. As follow-up, we
are currently drafting technical recommendations on
immediate response.The ICRC coordinates the
repatriation of the remains of
soldiers killed in the Iran–Iraq
war at the Shalmjah border. Fitore Pula/ICRC
Mechanisms for missing persons
Institutional solutions involving authorities or parties
to a conflict are key to clarifying what has happened
to missing persons and to supporting their relatives.
In October 2019, in partnership with the Committee on
Missing Persons in Cyprus, we assembled representa-
tives of different national and coordination mechanisms
tasked with bringing together parties to a conflict to fa-
cilitate the search for missing persons. The aim of this
workshop was to discuss the need for better guidance
on the design and functioning of such mechanisms.
Participants asked the project team to develop such gui-
dance in a way that ensures adaptability to local situa-
tions and takes into account the multifaceted needs of
families.Forensic services
and missing persons
While forensic science is already covered by many tech-
nical standards and recommendations, its use in huma-
nitarian situations requires specific guidance. The fo-
rensic part of our work aims to provide this by focusing
specifically on preventing people from going missing,
resolving cases and bringing answers to families.
Two meetings organized by the project team held in
December 2018 and November 2019 in Geneva, Switzer-
land, and Coimbra, Portugal, provided input for two new
sets of principles: the Principles for the Dignified Ma-
nagement of the Dead in Humanitarian Emergencies to
Prevent them from Becoming Missing Persons and General
Principles on the Use of Forensic Science to Prevent and
Resolve the Missing in Humanitarian situations.
Collecting a blood sample
in Oronccoy, La Mar, Peru.
Jesus Enrique Moya Choy/ICRCIf you would like to learn more about the project or find
out how you can get involved, please write to us at:
missingpersonsproject@icrc.org
Missing Persons
A Global Response
International Committee of the Red Cross
19, Avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva, Switzerland
missingpersonsproject@icrc.orgYou can also read
